EcoPrime Marine Pacific, the largest shareholder of HJ Shipbuilding & Construction, is moving to acquire HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Gunsan Shipyard.
EcoPrime Marine Pacific and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said on the 13th that they signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) at EcoPrime Marine Pacific's headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, for the transfer of asset ownership of the Gunsan Shipyard. The contract amount will be finalized after due diligence and an appraisal.
The Gunsan Shipyard is a shipyard that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries built in 2010 with an area of 1.8 million square meters in the Gunsan National Industrial Complex in North Jeolla. It halted operations in 2017 due to a drop in orders amid an industry slump, then resumed in Oct. 2022 and is currently producing about 100,000 tons of blocks annually.
To revitalize the Gunsan Shipyard, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to place its block fabrication orders with the shipyard for the next three years while also providing design services, acting as an agent for raw material purchases, and offering technical support related to automation and smart shipyards.
An HD Hyundai Heavy Industries official said, "Through the transfer of asset ownership, we expect to be able to build new ships at the Gunsan Shipyard in the future, and since we agreed to continue receiving blocks at the same level as now even after the transfer, this will be mutually beneficial for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, EcoPrime Marine Pacific, and Gunsan City."
EcoPrime Marine Pacific plans to operate the Gunsan Shipyard together with HJ Shipbuilding & Construction and grow into a global shipbuilding specialist group.
The Gunsan Shipyard has a 700-meter dock, the largest in Korea, allowing simultaneous construction of large vessels. It is also equipped with a 1,650-ton Goliath crane, among the largest in Korea, and a quay stretching 1.4 kilometers.